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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
5 Tips for Seminary Graduates Looking for a New Church Job
Landing a church job requires more than qualifications; it calls for finding a suitable fit culturally and theologically. This episode offers five indispensable tips for first-time job seekers, emphasizing networking, patience, and thorough research.
• Recognizing the importance of cultural and theological alignment
• Harnessing networking opportunities for job leads
• Understanding the prolonged nature of church hiring processes
• Ensuring clarity around salary and benefits before acceptance
• Avoiding the rush to accept the first job offer for better opportunities
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you've got the degree, you've got the calling, you've got the fire to serve. And now comes the big question how do you actually get a job at a church? It's not as simple as sending out resumes and waiting for a call. In fact, the church hiring process is it? It's different, it's special, right, it's different than almost any other type of job search. But don't worry, I've got five must-know tips that I'm going to share with you right here on the podcast today to help you land the right church job and to avoid some painful mistakes. So we're going to jump right in. You're listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast.
Speaker 1:My name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom, and I mentioned five different tips for you. Particularly, I'm focusing this on first-time job seekers. Maybe you just graduated from, got a degree in a Christian college, maybe you just graduated from seminary. But five tips for you, particularly if this is the first time you're entering into the church job market. Okay, tip number one don't just apply everywhere. Okay, that's the first thing.
Speaker 1:The first mistake that a lot of people make is I'm going to send out 200 resumes. Don't do that. Don't do that. You got to find the right fit. Here's a fact. Most seminaries don't teach you how to job hunt. I don't know how many I've done probably thousands of job interviews and I hear this all the time from recent seminary grads is that they didn't teach me this in seminary. They didn't teach me a lot of things in seminary, but they sure didn't teach me how to get a job.
Speaker 1:And your temptation is going to be to send out your resume to every open church position that you can find. But the reality is, churches aren't just looking for qualified people. They're looking for the right fit for their unique culture and vision. And let me tell you, if you don't know this, if they didn't teach you this in seminary, just send me a check for $100,000, because this is gold here. Every church is unique. Every church's culture is unique, every church's vision is unique. Every church is different and you need to take that into account when you're looking for your first church job.
Speaker 1:Imagine landing a job only to realize that the church's theology is different than yours. The church's leadership style is different than yours. You had one set of expectations. They've got a whole different set of expectations. Don't align with your convictions at all.
Speaker 1:That's a tough place to be and honestly, I hear this all the time from candidates. They're 18 months in to their first church job and they describe what I just said. I'm not kidding, this is just. I don't know what I was thinking, but this is not a good fit for me. So you need to think of it. Maybe an easier I was going to say funner, that's not a good word A more fun way to look at this is maybe think of it like dating.
Speaker 1:Okay, because just because a church is hiring doesn't mean that you're a match. All right. Instead, you need to be intentional. You need to research everything. You need to research their beliefs and their leadership structure and their expectations before you apply. So here's your action step in this area Make a list of churches that align with your theological convictions, your leadership style, your ministry passions, and start by focusing your applications there.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that's tip number one. Tip number two your network is probably a lot more powerful. In fact, I've heard as many as 70% of jobs in really any field, not just the church, are filled through networking, and in ministry, relationships matter even more. Churches often hire based on a personal recommendation, before a job is even posted. If you're feeling that you're only submitting these applications online and waiting. You're probably missing some of the best opportunities that there are out there. Have you ever heard of the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game In ministries? Probably more like two degrees. I am constantly. There's 300, according to some, between 350,000 and 375,000, 350 to 375,000 churches in the country and you know what, as big as that number is.
Speaker 1:We're constantly meeting people. Oh yeah, you worked here. You worked here. Oh yeah, you know him. I was just this past week. We're interviewing somebody from Florida and they're like part of a denomination. They're like, oh yeah, do you know this person? Yeah, he was my pastor for years Networking.
Speaker 1:You might not think that you have a network. You have a bigger network than what you think you do. Someone you know probably knows someone at a church that you're interested in. Here's your action. Step for here is reach out to your people, people that you know. Reach out to your professors, reach out to your mentors, reach out to your former pastors, reach out to your college roommate. Let them know you're searching and ask them if they have any connections at churches that are looking for staff. You never know, but we always tell candidates hey, before you start sending your resume out, who do you know, that, knows somebody, because that could be where your next church job goes.
Speaker 1:Tip number three be ready for a long and really unique hiring process. Just like I said, churches are different and unique. Churches, hiring processes are different and unique, and the fact is the church hiring process is often slow. Now it's getting a little bit better here in the last five years, but a lot of times it's slower than what you think it's going to be. Sometimes from your first conversation until your first boots on the ground could be several months. Unlike corporate jobs, you can interview on Monday for a corporate job and find out on Friday if you got the job.
Speaker 1:Churches are different. They rely heavily on prayer, which is great. A lot of them rely on committees, that there's a lot of people involved and a lot of meetings to schedule and there's just a lot more interview stages. It can feel discouraging when a couple of weeks go by without an update, but remember, this is just, it's normal. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's good, but it's normal.
Speaker 1:In a ministry setting, it's like waiting for the church potluck to start right. It'm not saying it's good, but it's normal. In a ministry setting, it's like waiting for the church potluck to start right. It takes longer than you'd like, but usually it's worth it in the end. Okay, so here's your action step here Be patient, follow up professionally, be prepared for multiple interviews. Be prepared that it's going to take longer than you think it's going to Be prepared for theological discussions and trial sermons A lot of different who you know.
Speaker 1:A lot of churches will have you fill out questionnaires. I hate questionnaires. If you work with chemistry, you don't have to do the questionnaire thing, but we do something differently. But you're going to have to jump through a lot of hoops and every church if you're talking to more than one church, every church has different hoops. But you're going to have to do that before receiving an offer and it's going to be a lot. It's going to be a lot, but it works out in the end.
Speaker 1:Okay, tip number four out of five don't let salary be a surprise. Many churches don't post salaries up front. Now some of that's changing because the laws are changing to where churches have to be very transparent with their salaries and publish those beforehand. But compensation in ministries and churches vary widely. I've often said there could be two churches across the street from each other. They could be the same size and the same denomination and they could pay $30,000 differently. Some churches offer great benefits. Other churches expect staff to live on faith, which is code for low pay. The last thing you want is to move your family, commit to a church and then realize you can't afford rent. Okay, have you ever seen those expectation versus reality memes? That's how some pastors feel about their first paycheck when they get it, if they don't ask the right question. So here's your action. Step on this one Before accepting an offer, you need to know.
Speaker 1:You need to know about salary. I wouldn't take a job without knowing what I'm getting paid. Like I said, the church world is different and if sometimes they'll offer the job I've seen this countless times they'll offer you a job and not ever talk about salary or benefits. And if you don't ask, you might not know until you get that first paycheck. So check out compensation reports to know if you're being paid fairly, but to always make sure that you ask those questions. All right, going long, today I'm extra talkative, but I get passionate about this kind of thing, and this is tip number five. Okay, discern if you're running to a church, not from something. Okay, many new grads jump at the first offer that they get because they feel pressure to start working. But if it's a bad fit, that can lead to burnout really quickly.
Speaker 1:We talk to a lot of candidates that have gone to college and seminary. They're in their late 20s, early 30s and they're already talking to us about their third church. They're getting ready to move because the first two weren't good fits. You need to don't take the first offer. Maybe the first offer is great, but don't take it just because you have an offer.
Speaker 1:Ministry is hard and you want to start in a healthy church where you can thrive, not just escape unemployment. Think about it like moving houses. You don't just leave because your current place has a squeaky floor. You move because the new place is really a better fit. So you want to make sure before you say yes to any job you got to pray obviously, seek wise counsel and really ask yourself and take time Again. This might be the first one that you get offered, but chances are it's probably not. Is this a place where I can grow and make a lasting impact? Ask yourself and take time Again. This might be the first one that you get offered, but chances are it's probably not. Is this a place where I can grow and make a lasting impact and a place where I'm going to really fit.
Speaker 1:Okay, so those are five tips for you landing your first church job, and it's not about sending out all the applications. It's really about finding a healthy, what we call long-term fit. You really want to look at it through. What I would say is we call it healthy, long-term fit. When we say that, we mean you can stay in some place for five years. I would never take a role that I could not see myself being in a ministry role for five years at that church, so that's something that you can consider.
Speaker 1:You know what, if you're looking right now, if you're in the throes of a job search and you've not connected with me or with us at Chemistry, you can head over to chemistrystaffingcom and you can submit your resume and create a free profile. We've got some free assessments there for you as well, but we would love to be able to get to know you a little bit and see if one of our searches might be God might be using us to find you your very first place in ministry. All right, I hope this has been helpful, especially if you're looking for your first church job and thanks for joining me here. I'm Todd Rhodes and this is the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Thanks so much.
